


Love and Care

by lelepandewritium



Category: One Piece
Genre: Caretaking, Drowning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 11:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4703762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lelepandewritium/pseuds/lelepandewritium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Zoro, you’ll always save me right?”</p><p>Startled at the sudden question invading the silence around him, Zoro looked up from cleaning Wado.</p><p>“...Of course, Luffy. Though you never really need me to save you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love and Care

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look, I wrote something!

“Zoro, you’ll always save me right?”

Startled at the sudden question invading the silence around him, Zoro looked up from cleaning Wado.

“...Of course, Luffy. Though you never really need me to save you.”

Shuffling his feet, Luffy stepped forward and plopped down beside his swordsman, leaning into the man’s shoulder and frowning, eyes focusing onto a loose nail on the Sunny’s deck. He’d have to tell Franky about that later.

“No, I know that. I mean when I fall into the ocean. You’ll always save me. Right?”

Frowning, Zoro set his cleaning supplies down beside him, putting Wado back into her scabbard and settling an arm around Luffy’s shoulders. 

“Of course, you know I will. Whenever you fall in, I’ll get you.”

Luffy pursed his lips, remaining quiet as he debated on what he should say next.

Sighing harshly, he pulled away from Zoro and looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed together.

“But...but what if you’re not there? How would you save me if you’re not there?”

Zoro refrained from reaching out for Luffy again, sensing his internal struggle and not wanting to cage him in. 

This made Zoro pause, the corners of his lips tugging down in a frown. If he wasn’t there? He will always be there. After their two years apart…

Oh.

Is that what this is about?

“Luffy, I’m not going to leave you again. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let us, any of us, get separated like that again. We’re all stronger. It won’t happen again.”

Luffy chewed on his lower lip, nodding carefully and focusing his gaze down onto his lap.

“That wasn’t an answer you know.”

Shaking his head, Zoro reached out a hand and hesitantly hovered it over Luffy’s cheek, giving him the chance to pull back or lean into it.

After a second of indecision, Luffy leaned into Zoro’s hand, closing his eyes and humming at the familiar rough feel of his palm and fingertips. 

“I will always save you, Luffy. Yeah, sometimes I’ll be too far, but then someone else will get you. We’ll all always have your back. I’ll, always have you back. I swear it on my three swords.”

Luffy could only smile, nodding his head and crawling over to Zoro, plopping down on the man’s lap and sighing in contentment. 

This was a rare occasion for them, to talk seriously. For them to just want to bask in each others company, without any need for words shared between them. Luffy loved to talk, and Zoro loved to listen. It’s how they worked.

But sometimes, sometimes they just needed to get things off their chests. Sometimes they needed to share their fears so as not to let them control them later on. Sometimes they just needed to feel one another, like this. Sometimes they just needed to know that the other is there and that this all isn’t just another dream.

Minute after minute of silence passed them by, the two staring up at the star filled sky. 

It was calm for them. Relaxing. But there was still one more thing Luffy needed to say.

“Back on Rusikaina, where I was training with Rayleigh, I was working on my observation Haki and, well, I wasn’t very good at it at first. I ran into things a lot. Got hit a lot. And one time, I fell over the side of the island while running from a giant gator. I fell into the ocean. And, well, I didn’t really freak out, because it was just the ocean and I always got saved. I was...stupid. I thought you were going to just appear out of nowhere and save me. I believed it actually. But then you...you didn’t. You didn’t show up and bring me back to the surface.”

Luffy swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling too dry.

“I was...drowning. I’d forgotten what that really felt like. I couldn’t breath no matter how much air I tried to suck in. All I got was salt water. My throat and nose were burning. I couldn’t see anything except a small bit of light up near the surface of the water. That was fading away too, the deeper I went.”

Zoro clenched his jaw, wrapping his arms around Luffy’s waist and pressing him more firmly against his chest, a growl rumbling in his chest. 

Luffy smiled, patting Zoro’s chest, the space directly over his heart.

“Rayleigh got me. It--I thought it was you. I wasn’t really...there, when he got me. I coughed up a lot of water and my head was pounding and my chest was hurting and I just...thought it was you. I’m pretty sure I said some stuff, things that I didn’t really want to say to Rayleigh. But I thought it was you so...I just started rambling.”

Luffy lifted his legs up and tucked his knees closer to his chest, shrinking against Zoro’s bulk more and hiding from the world around him.

He needed a break, he needed an outlet, and Zoro would give him that just by being there for him.

Resting his chin on Luffy’s head, Zoro let out a long breath of air, rocking back and forth gently while keeping Luffy tucked away within the circle of his arms. 

“I’m here now, and I swear that I’ll never leave again. I’ll save you, every time I can, and when I can’t, someone else in your crew will, and I won’t be far behind. We will never be separated again. Not as long as we live, and even after that.”

Luffy tucked his face away against Zoro’s neck, a smile pressing against it and bringing a smile onto Zoro’s own face. 

‘There we go’, Zoro thought. He loosened his arms around Luffy, making the hold less constricting and more...comforting. 

It didn’t hurt Luffy, but still. Right now was a time for being gentle, to give Luffy what he wanted and needed. It wasn’t one of their days for...playing and manhandling each other.

Luffy just needed to be cared for right now. He needed rest. 

Zoro shifted his arms, wrapping one underneath Luffy’s knees and the other around his shoulders. With a small grunt, Zoro was up and on his feet, making his way towards the men’s quarters.

“Let’s go to bed, Luffy. Some rest would do us both good.”

Luffy hummed, closing his eyes and sighing as he was carried off. 

Yeah, some love and care is definitely what he needed.


End file.
